Veda just bit my hand pretty hard while we were playing tug. It's happened before but I know it's an accident. She just tries to get ahold of more rope on her end.
The thing is though, she's 7 months old today and her adult teeth are all finishing up coming in and she gets a real strong hold of things when we're playing tug. Needless to say, it hurts!! She broke a little skin but no blood or anything.
So my question is, how should I react towards this? When it's happened in the past, I yell ow or something (again, it hurts) and stop playing with her for a little while just so I can cool my temper. Is this a suitable way to respond? Is there anything I can do to stop this aside from be more careful?

If it happened because you're hooking the tug stop hooking the tug. Make a clear target for the dog. If she's regripping because you let too much tension off the tug stop letting the tension off. This could also cause her to typewrite toward your hand. I wouldn't react at all. Chances are it was something you did that caused it.

Eiros

03-28-2014 08:48 AM

I agree w bailliff, just try to be aware of where you're putting the toy and how you're holding it. If I'm encouraging a dog to bite something, it's not really their fault if my hand gets in the way on accident. I understand it's frustrating, our first dog could take your hand off by accident while playing, and if it got too rough or I wasn't able to pay close enough attention, we redirected to another game.
This is what I've always done, but I'm curious to hear other takes on it! I just assumed my dog didn't know my hand was there and figured if I did anything it'd just confuse them.

Delgado's 2 and he adores his new jute tug, he's never been so focused and enthralled with other tugs before this one. When he's excited and in drive he can get chewy trying to find the "perfect" spot to latch on to, if he starts doing that I simply give a verbal negative marker "Ah!" and the tug goes dead. He knows where I want him to target and it's a large enough tug he's got plenty of room for his teeth, it only took a few times before he clued in.

I also found using a ball on a rope helped with targeting, anytime he grabbed anything but the ball square on he got the negative verbal marker and toy went dead. Now even when he's jumping and having fun playing he knows to nail the ball and nothing else, I'm reiterating to him that the same rules apply to the new tug and it is working pretty fast

jessjeric

03-28-2014 08:39 PM

I kinda figured it was something I was doing wrong which is why I would stop playing with her for a bit. The time out is more for me than for her.

I'll be more aware of hand placement and what I'm doing with the tug. The target idea is also good. Thanks for your input!

Move the tug in straight lines away from the dog or don't move it at all. Going side to side is what gets you in trouble. Don't move tugs perpendicular to the dog or they learn to "lead" and if they guess wrong your hand pays the price.